Optical Glasses

Are purity, transparency, and the avoidance of discoloration in the glass important for you in manufacturing specialty optical glasses? Heraeus helps you to achieve these goals and to optimize your products. Profit from our many years experience.

Your benefits in summary

  • Purity and transparency – the high purity and chemical resistance of our platinum materials enable the manufacture of your high purity optical glasses.
  • No discolorations – by means of high purity rhodium-free materials.
  • Customer-specific solutions – which we develop and optimize jointly with you using our great expertise. Components can be supplied individually or as serial products.
  • Long service life of the components, resulting from the high strength and high ductility of the Pt materials even in the weld joints.
  • Standards – we are certified to DIN EN ISO 9001:2008 and DIN EN ISO 14001. In the manufacture of high quality products, we work to the 5S standard and monitor processes by audit management. SixSigma tools are used for systematic process optimization.

Fields of Application of Optical Glasses

Anwendung von optischen Spezialgläsern
  • Aspherical and spherical lenses
    for high value camera objectives, projectors, microscopes, telescopes, binoculars, smart phones, laser applications, night vision devises, spectacle lenses
  • Cylindrical lenses
    for barcode scanners and laser projectors
  • Optical filter glass
    for analysis, photography, medical technology and laser protection
  • Windows (plane parallel polished components for distortion-free light transmission in optical systems)
  • Substrates (e.g., materials for interference filters)
  • Special glasses for radiation absorption (lead glass)
  • Antique glasses (flat glass with wavy surface and defects, e.g., for glazing church windows
  • Colored glass (flat glass) for artistic use
  • Weather resistant anti-reflective coatings on flat glass (e.g. glass for museum display cabinets, protection of valuable pictures)
  • Architectural glass (flat glass / soda-lime glass) and their diverse coatings

Portfolio

Komponenten für die Glasproduktion
  • Crucibles
  • Feeder systems
  • Stirring cells
  • Stirrers and plungers
  • Refining chambers / refining systems
  • Bubbler pipes
  • Electrodes
  • Protective thimbles for thermocouples
  • Platinum cladding of ceramics
  • Orifice rings and outlet tubes
  • Mandrills for making glass tubes
  • Danner pipes
  • Manufacture of other custom made components

Individual Design for the Perfect Process

Our solutions are available both for batch production and for continuous melting processes. They are employed for melting down, homogenization, and portioning. Component designs, individually agreed with you, enable the production of glasses to meet your requirements.

The melting equipment is often supported mechanically from outside by a ceramic which also serves as heat insulation. To prevent damage to the component, the thermal expansion behavior of the platinum components and the ceramics have to be considered. We are pleased to support you in the continuous optimization of your system.

Pure Platinum for a better View

We make it possible for you to melt a large number of glass types in order to offer optical systems without imaging defects. The performance and quality of the optical components is influenced already in the melting process. In this the challenge is to avoid defects and discolorations and to guarantee good homogeneity and high transparency in the glass.

Heraeus produces equipment (e.g., melting crucibles, feeder systems, components for the Vello and Danner processes…) from rhodium-free platinum alloys of the highest purity in order to prevent discoloration in optical glasses. We are pleased to support you in the selection of the appropriate materials for you application.

  • Pure Pt: When the highest purity is essential.
  • Pt-CH: When the highest purity and a perceptible increase in strength are essential.
  • Pt DPH: For strong components with stable shape and highest purity which can accommodate thermal expansion in the heating phase without damage.
  • Pt DPH-A: For high strength active components of highest purity in which torsional and dimensional stiffness are essential.

Looking for the right material? Our  Material Database may help.

Recycling Program

Recycling Program
Information and Services associated with Glass Making

Information and Services associated with Glass Making
References

References